News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Primary schools with few students to be shut down

BERHAMPUR: The government has decided to close down primary schools
with less than 25 students and merge those with nearby schools. "We have
asked district committees of Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan (SSA) to identify the
non-viable schools in their respective districts," school and mass
education commissioner-secretary Usha Padhy said here on Wednesday. "All
such schools will be identified by March 31," she added.
The
government had relaxed the norms of opening new primary schools to
improve access to elementary education and to achieve 100% enrolment,
she said, adding that many schools are not viable. But the government
has also decided to open 1,500 more primary schools in the state, she
said. "The district committee of the SSA has also been asked to submit
their proposals for the opening up of the new schools in their
districts," said the commissioner, who was in the town to review
different programmes of the school and mass education department,
including mid-day meal, student enrollment, construction of school
buildings in Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts. Several higher
officials of the department attended the meet.

The government has also decided to construct 130 girls' hostels, one in
each educationally-backward block (EBB) to boost education of girls',
she said. Most of these blocks are in the tribal-dominated districts and
KBK region. Similarly, the Centre has approved setting up 111 model
schools in these blocks of the state.

Similarly, as many as 709 new school
buildings would be constructed under the Rashtriya Madhyamika Sikshya
Abhiyan (RMSA) in the state. The cost of each building would be around
Rs 58 lakh, said the director of Rastriya Madhyamika Sikshya Parishad
(RMSP) N Jena.